Alright, next chapter! Also, we're finally about to get to a part where something positive happens instead of everything going wrong! Of course, it won't be until the next chapter, but things are finally going to get back on track for our heroes. Enjoy!
"Ahh! Get it off me!" Shard yelled as he began violently shaking his foot to try to get the black liquid off. The other three stared at him, unsure of what to do. Shard just kept shaking around, desperately trying to get it off. "Don't just stand there! Get the stuff off yourselves before it starts to affect you!" he commanded. "And don't touch it with your hands!" he warned as Amethyst was about to just wipe it off. All four of them tried their best to remove the liquid, but it wasn't long before it began to take hold on them. As Shard's vision grew dark, he realized it was too late, and stopped his senseless attempt to avoid what was coming. "Well," he thought, "here we go again..."
From atop the tall mountain holding the Galaxy Warp, a tiny glimmer could suddenly have been seen off in the distance. A second later, and that glimmer was a huge pillar of light projecting into the main pad. As it died down, Garnet and Connie stepped out of it. After a few brief words, Garnet grabbed onto Connie and jumped down the mountainside, getting them both down in seconds where it had taken Connie hours. It would only be about fifty minutes to Beach City this way.
Soon after Shard stopped fighting, the others began to slow down and stop resisting as well, although not for lack of trying. For a few brief moments, their vision became cloudy, then everything melted away. When vision returned a minute later, they almost wished it hadn't.
Amethyst woke up in her room, which was strange since the only access to it had been on Earth in the temple which was now gone. Still, it was real, she was sure of that much. As she walked around, the vast piles of objects swayed dangerously. She saw Steven off in the distance trying to grab something from one of the swaying piles. She began to run to him to ask him how they got there. Before she got to him though, he succeeded in pulling the object loose, which caused the already swaying tower to fall. Before Amethyst's eyes, she saw the pile descend on Steven as he tried to run, until suddenly, he was crushed...
Amethyst stopped and stared in shock, dropping to her knees after a short time and trying to process what had just happened. As she did so, the other towers of junk began to fall, one by one, until they were all gone. A cold and uncaring wind began to blow through, sweeping away all the junk it had taken her so long to collect, and Steven's body along with it. The wind then died down, leaving Amethyst alone...
Pearl woke up to a different sight than Amethyst. Surrounding her on all sides were all of Rose's favorite things, and she seemed to be standing in... Rose's room! She looked around and saw that standing just a short distance behind her was Rose herself, and next to her was Steven. Pearl was unsure of many things immediately, especially how both of them were standing there together, but those thoughts were very quickly overwhelmed as she ran over to them.
"What are you doing here, you stupid, misshapen, defective pearl?" Rose said as she turned to look at her. "Yeah, what's a failure like you doing in such a perfect room anyways?" Steven asked. Pearl was stopped dead in her tracks, if she'd had a heart it would've stopped. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but before she could say anything, the whole room began to spin and fall away. Only Rose and her son remained, circling her again and again, laughing at her...
Lapis also woke up in a separate place. She was in a tiny little prison cell, one which made any other she'd been in look huge in comparison. Outside the barrier, she could see tens of thousands of Gems watching her. Among them was Steven, watching along with all the others. While she wondered what they were doing, she heard a sound behind her. She turned around to see Jasper, who was smirking and holding a small silver mirror. "Hey you, brat! Guess where I'm going to put you after I get done beating you?" Jasper said. "And guess who paid good money to watch? That's right, your little friend!" she said as she pointed out at Steven. While Lapis cowered in the corner, the big yellow-orange Gem got closer and closer, until she grabbed at Lapis' gem on her back and began to try to rip it from her. It wasn't long before she found herself looking once more out of the mirror that had been her prison for so long, except this time, she was there to stay...
Upon awaking, Shard was subjected to darkness deeper than any shadow could ever be. He looked up the see a small circle of space and stars, tiny bright dots shining away the same way they had always done. Every second, the circle became ever smaller, although only doing so at a rate someone with an extreme attention to detail would ever notice. Bits and pieces of objects he had once known now floated down with him, into the darkness. The cruel fate of them all was oblivion, a complete deletion from existence. The last picture he and his family had been in together, back on his homeworld of Rovaris 4, fell down in the distance, suddenly swallowed up. It was gone forever now. As the circle got even smaller, his feet dipped into the darkness as if into a perfectly spherical pool of liquid, but a liquid so dark, lost, and dead that it didn't release even a single ripple. The came his legs, his waist, his chest even his neck. As his lower head began to sink in, he closed his eyes. He would never need to open them again...
I think this may just be the most dark chapter yet. But the darkness is about to (partially) end! Be sure to read the next chapter as soon as it comes out to find out how this all ends. Until next time, bye!